Late Night in the Hangar Bay
by Fake Gameboy
Summary: Unable to sleep, Lance decides to go see what Pidge is up to since he expects she's the only one up at this hour. He didn't expect to get into a heart to heart conversation (light romance).


With the exception of one other person, Lance figured he was the only one awake in the castle. He already decided he wasn't getting any sleep tonight, so he put on his slippers and started to make his way to the hangar bay. If anyone else was awake right now, it'd be Pidge, and she'd most likely be tinkering away on some project. Sure enough, he spotted Pidge sitting with her laptop, leaning her back against Green's claw.

"Hey Pidge!" Lance called out to her as he entered the bay, but she was too focused on her current task to look up and greet him.

"Typical" he said to himself, as he grew closer he heard some familiar sounds and music coming from Pidge's laptop.

"Whoa! You got the console working?"

Lance was now crouched beside Pidge. "Ah!" Pidge fumbled with the controller, almost dropping it. "Give me some warning next time, will you?"

Pidge shot Lance an annoyed look.

"Well, I did call you name when I walked in here, but you were way too into your game. How'd you manage to get the console working, anyway? I thought it wasn't gonna hook up to any Altean power source."

"I designed a power converter in my spare time, Coran gave me parts I needed and Hunk and I put the thing together."

"I'm hurt, Pidge." Lance made puppy dog eyes at Pidge, making her look down and away from him. "We spend all that time together fishing change out of a fountain together, and you couldn't even give you best buddy Lance a call when you got the thing working?" Lance was overselling how hurt he was, but he was somewhat annoyed that he's just hearing this news now.

"Oh come on, you know it's not like that" Pidge's expression got serious. "I got Hunk cause he's good with his hands and I knew he'd help me build the converter. I meant to grab you, but I got caught up playing…"

"Relax Pidge, I'm just teasing you. I mean, after spending so much time out here in this video game-less galaxy, who wouldn't? So, whatcha playing?"

Pidge softened up upon hearing that. "I'm playing Super Combat Tournament 4: Championship Edition." I was practicing some combos until I got interrupted."

"Ohhh, well sorry I barged in then." Lance's remark dripped with sarcasm, as he heard Pidge's usual snark come back into her tone. "I'm pretty good at that game, I used to play with my brothers all the time."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! We only had 2 controllers, so a game like Super Combat was great for us." Pidge found herself smiling at Lance, she could tell some good memories were attached to this game.

"We played all the time, but you had to earn your spot. Winner stays on was the rule in my house, and my older brothers always used to beat me. I remember sneaking downstairs while everyone was asleep, and getting some practice in so I could get an edge on my brothers. Eventually I got good enough to beat them, they couldn't believe it. One of the best feelings ever"

"Older brothers are pretty cool. My older brother was the one who taught me how to play games in the first place." Pidge was thinking of a good memory of her and Matt playing a game, but she only made herself remember that he was in danger at this very moment, or worse.

Lance immediately saw her expression drop "Pidge c-" Pidge exhaled loudly before Lance could think of something to say.

"This whole thing was a waste of time. I shouldn't be putting time and effort into stupid stuff like video games. I should be making upgrades for Green, or learning Altean, or something useful that actually brings me close to finding Matt." Pidge shut off the console and began to unplug it from her laptop.

"Pidge, hold on." Lance reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. Pidge shrugged his hand off and continued to unplug.

"Listen Lance, if you want to play the game I'll give you it and the converter, just leave me alone alright?"

"Wha- seriously? You think I care about the console right now?" Lance half smirked at Pidge. "Before you pack it up, can you just hear me out on one thing?"

Pidge gave it a moment's thought before replying. "Alright, go for it." Lance stood up looking ready to say a mouthful, and Pidge tried her best not to roll her eyes at him.

"First, I wanna say you're one of the hardest working people I've ever met. Whenever you have the chance you're trying to teach yourself a language, or learning about all this crazy advanced tech on the ship. I can't even wrap my head around that stuff. And you do it because you're so driven, you really care about your family, you want to see them safe."

Pidge was at a loss for words, she couldn't believe all this praise was coming from Lance of all people.

"Even with that weighing on you, you still put in a ton of work for the team. If you think about it, a bunch of our missions would have been flops if it weren't for you hacking skills. What I'm trying to say is, you do a lot, more than enough. You shouldn't let feeling guilty over your family stop you from enjoying yourself every once and awhile."

"But what if I don't do enough wor-"

"Hey, no buts, you do. Plus, you're on a team. We're Team Voltron, Defenders of the Universe! We fight Galra, and we save people. There's no doubt in my mind your family is out there, and were gonna save 'em before anything bad happens to 'em."

Pidge pulled her legs into her chest before looking up at Lance. "I wish I had your confidence, Lance." Pidge paused briefly before speaking again. "Thanks, I really needed to hear that."

Lance sat back down next to Pidge, putting his arm around her shoulder. "No problem little buddy, wanna plug the console back in and go a few rounds?"

Pidge wiggled her way out of Lance's embrace, feeling a bit flustered. "Don't call me little, and sure."


End file.
